Apple Picking and Caramel Apple Cake

When we discussed our favorite things about the season over breakfast the other morning, I mentioned that I love the nostalgia of things…even if those are things which I have never experienced. But setting aside the time to dip apples in caramel, carve a pumpkin, or go on a hayride can often be the highlight of the season and the thing by which all future autumn seasons are defined.


I had never been apple picking, so when our church’s young adults group proposed the idea, we were both thrilled to go. I spent the morning stewing a pot of chili, baking a loaf of bread, and glazing an apple cake in homemade salted caramel in anticipation of our late afternoon picnic (between apple picking and a hayride, all to be concluded with a bonfire, roasted marshmallows, and cider). How perfect could a day be?

The only problem was that my sweet husband began that day with a long distance run, and by that afternoon his body was rebelling against him. He willingly went, but our apple picking was a little slower than we had hoped, he couldn’t eat much of the dinner that I packed, and we had to cut our evening short of the hayride and bonfire. We did have a great time, though, despite his ailing body, and we are definitely making plans for a repeat trip next year.

I don’t think that he even had a piece of this cake on Saturday night, but he made up for it with about four pieces on Sunday as he made his recovery.

I first came across this apple cake on All Things Farmer. It is a homey cake, and is delicious with Elise Bauer’s Caramel Sauce (with an added pinch of salt) drizzled over the top, but you are welcome to use store-bought variety for an easier version.

Caramel Apple Cake

Apple Cake from All Things Farmer
Caramel Sauce from Simply Recipes

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 ½ cups canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups chopped apples (about 3 medium apples)
1 cup toasted chopped pecans
1 cup caramel (homemade or store-bought)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream (optional)
Preheat the oven to 335 degrees.
In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla extract. Add the soda, salt, flour and cinnamon and stir until just combined. Mix in the apples and pecans.
Pour the batter into a buttered and floured bundt pan. Bake for 1 ½ hours, testing with a toothpick after about 1 ¼ hours. When the cake is done, cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto the rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, prepare the homemade caramel and cool until slightly warm and thick, or warm the store-bought caramel until stirrable, but still thick. Stir in the kosher salt to caramel. Drizzle about ½ cup of warm caramel over the cooled cake. Slice and serve with ice cream or sweetened whipped cream and drizzle with more caramel sauce.

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I gave him fair warning...of Bourbon Pumpkin Pancakes

These busy days, my husband and I have to make extra efforts to spend good time with each other.  So, in addition to a stroll around our neighborhood that we try to fit in once a week, we generally try to have date nights every other week.  But recently our date nights have turned into date lunches and yesterday, a date breakfast. 

It was his idea to have breakfast at one of our neighborhood restaurants, but since I've really been wanting to make pancakes recently and since they're more of a treat breakfast for us, I suggested breakfast at home instead. 

What I really wanted to do was breakfast in bed.  I love the idea of surprising my husband with a beautiful, bountiful tray of goodness, but it rarely happens because his feet hit the ground as soon as things start smelling good in the kitchen.  I can almost always surprise him anywhere else, but this one had alluded me.  So this time I gave him fair warning.  Although I didn't tell him what kinds of goodness I would be whisking together, I told him he had better not get out of bed! 

His wait was worth it; these silver-dollar sized (slightly boozy) pancakes were oh so good, and we had a sweet early morning date discussing our favorite things about the season. 

Bourbon Pumpkin Pancakes

2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/4 cup bourbon
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 cup real maple syrup
2 tablespoons bourbon

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and the next eight ingredients (through nutmeg).  In a small bowl, beat the egg.  Add the buttermilk, pumpkin, bourbon and oil and whisk until well combined.  Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. 

In a small oven-proof bowl, measuring cup, or pitcher, combine the maple syrup and bourbon. 

Set the oven to "warm."  Place a heat-proof plate in the oven to keep cooked pancakes warm.  Carefully place the bourbon maple syrup in the oven to warm, making sure that it is on a stable surface (put a plate under it, if you are worried). 

Grease a griddle and heat to medium-low.  Using a large cookie scoop or a 1/4 cup measure, scoop the batter onto the hot griddle.  Use the back of the scoop to spread the batter a bit.  Cook the pancakes for 1-2 minutes, until the edges begin to dull.  Flip and cook for 1-2 minutes more, and stack the cooked pancakes in the oven to keep warm until serving.  Top the pancakes with the warm bourbon maple syrup. 

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If at first you don't succeed, make tried and true Chicken Pot Pie

Sometimes I get in trouble when I try to come up with new recipes.  Things sound so good, until you end up with some rather strange looking pink rice (tasty, but still needs some work, and a little less...color).  It is for precisely that reason that I try to have a good balance between experimental recipes (of which there are so many) and the tried and true. 

I have been making this pot pie since we have been married, in the days when I learned not to experiment on guests (okay, I still do this occasionally) and when I learned that the true test was the hum test.  Later on, I was the youth group "cook," providing meals to the kids in between snowy trips down the North Carolina mountains.  There, I made larger batches of this pie and covered them with biscuits instead of crust.  My friend Laura, a gracious co-chaperone on that trip, now only makes this pot pie recipe with a biscuit crust. 
No matter which way you top it, this pot pie is a classic keeper. 

Chicken Pot Pie

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup peeled carrots, sliced (about 2 medium carrots)
1 cup frozen green peas
2 cups new potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup celery, diced (about 2 stalks)
1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
5 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon herbes de provence
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons port wine, or sherry
1 pie crust, or 8 raw buttermilk biscuits


In a large saucepan, combine the chicken, broth, carrots, peas and potatoes.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat, then reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove the chicken to a cutting board to cool.  Using a slotted spoon. transfer the vegetables to a deep dish pie pan.  Reserve the chicken broth in a measuring cup or small bowl.  Cut the chicken into 1/2 inch cubes and transfer it to the pie pan. 


Using the same saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Saute the onions and celery for five minutes.  Stir in the flour, salt, pepper, herbes de provence; cook for one minute.  Add the milk and reserved stock and cook for 3-4 minutes, until thick.  Pour the sauce over the chicken mixture in the pie pan, spreading to reach the edges. 


Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.


Top the pie with the pie crust, cutting away excess dough.  Make five slits around the top to allow steam to escape.  Alternatively, arrange the biscuits over the top of the pie.  Place a piece of foil under the pie to catch any drips.  Bake for 35 minutes, then cool for 10 minutes before serving. 


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